Welcome P.S. 16

Commonpoint Queens is excited to welcome P.S. 16 in Corona to its family of Community Schools and afterschool programs this year!

The Community School model is built around the idea of supporting families inside and outside of the classroom through the services of a Community-Based Organization. It focuses on four core elements— collaborative leadership, family and community engagement, expanded learning, and integrated community supports. Commonpoint Queens already runs Community School programs at high schools in Queens, but P.S. 16 is our first elementary school to offer these programs.

At P.S. 16, the program includes SEL lessons in the classroom for grades K–2, workshops for parents that range from making visions boards to talking about domestic violence, attendance workshops in partnership with the guidance department, distributing winter coats and more than 100 Thanksgiving turkeys to families, and a new after school program that began in January with time for homework help and enrichment activities such as drama and baking.

“P.S. 16 is located in the heart of Corona, a community that was deeply affected by the COVID pandemic. These programs have helped us rebuild and bring parent engagement back to the community,” said Tiffany Ponce, Community School Director at P.S.16.

Being part of the Commonpoint Queens family has also enabled the staff to refer parents in need to our employment programs at the Commonpoint Queens Jack and Shirley Silver Hub, mental health counseling, support for single parents with our Resilience program, and has even employed high school students in our programs at Forest Hills High School as youth workers in P.S. 16’s
after-school programs!

“In the future, we hope to expand our after-school program to the whole school, host more family engagement events such as game night and cultural weeks, career-focused workshops for parents, and organize more school-wide initiatives on different topics and theme days!” said Sara Ferreira, Assistant Director of Community School Programs at P.S. 16.

This story is part of our Spring 2023 newsletter – click here to read it.